France has moved to testing candidates for its new MLRS, which should become M142 HIMARS analog and replace old M270 LRU. Final decision at country's Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) should be made already in coming weeks.
As Forces Operations Blog writes, test results will determine whether to take local variant or one of foreign options. However, everything is not so good, as despite good timelines by 2030 French plan to order 13 to 26 launchers and only 300 missiles.
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Main French candidates are FLP-T 150 and Thundart, developed by Thales together with ArianeGroup on one side and Safran together with MBDA on the other. At the same time, it is noted that special attention in both products is devoted to electronic warfare and jamming resistance.
France's Directorate General of Armaments says they will begin gradually withdrawing from service starting 2027, but successor choice will be very difficult. Because this may involve good solutions that will have to wait long and bad imported ones that can be quick and mass.
Defense Express notes indicated figures of 300 missiles over 4 years may appear expected, considering this is new product. However, from war needs side and even global market capabilities perspective, this is little. Moreover, this may not even suffice for conducting annual artillerist exercises.
American GMLRS new production line in Australia in 2029 should reach 4,000 missile annual output volume. This not counting U.S. capabilities, which will also most likely increase.
Naturally, one can say 300 is only order for France itself, while other potential export clients will enable increasing this quantity. However, a question exists how much they will be, given serious competition from HIMARS, K239 Chunmoo and EuroPULS (MARS 3). Moreover, delivery rates are currently a very important argument.
French desire to rely on own independent solutions is genuinely commendable, especially in today's uncertainty conditions and deteriorating U.S. relations. However, this must be accompanied by corresponding production and procurement volumes to ensure mass availability.
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